Political Dig

One year after helping Donald Trump win the White House, Iowa Republicans are expressing regret for electing the erratic president.

According to the Washington Post, Trump’s poll numbers in the bellwether Midwestern state have collapsed, with the president only garnering a meager 35 percent approval rating and Republicans overall, a tick lower, at 34 percent approval.

Despite former President Barack Obama winning the state twice, Iowans turned on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, handing her only 41.7 percent of the vote — but Democrats are seeing the tide turn in the second half on 2017.

On Aug. 8, the Democratic Party held a House seat in a special election in an Iowa district where Trump had won by 21.3 points. And in December they fielded a candidate in a special state Senate race who lost by nine points in a district where Democrats didn’t even run a candidate in 2010 or 2014 because it is considered so deeply Republican.

Trump’s unpopularity is affecting Iowa Republicans across the board and his prospects in Iowa, should he run again, are dimming rapidly, said Janet Petersen, leader of Iowa’s Senate Democrats.

“If Trump were to run again, he’d be in deep trouble,” Petersen explained. “A dog bites you the first time, it’s not your fault. The second time it bites you, it’s your own damn fault.”

Democratic state Senator Nate Boulton, who is for governor, said his party will make the recent GOP tax cut for the rich a central part of their message in 2018.

“They’re going to see who the winners and losers are in this, and they’re going to identify the corporations and wealthy people who came out way ahead of their families,” Boulton told the newspaper.